Paris in the Fall
by ellymelly
Summary: A tag to Love in the Time of Science, People of the Sand and Sanctuary of the Moon (can be read as stand alone). Nikola and Helen are investigating a mysterious, rare vampire relic. Is it a lost cult or something more sinister? Also features Henry, Declan, Ashley and Kavanaugh.
1. An Old Pair of Wings

**1**

**AN OLD PAIR OF WINGS**

An enormous black bird swooped through the Sanctuary. Part eagle – part Phoenix, its razor sharp feathers left hissing scratches in the stone as it hooked a corner too close and settled its talons on the Persian rug. It waddled toward the fire, folding its wings up as it squawked.

"It keeps the mice down," Helen curled her lip up in a smirk, as the bird turned its head to her in acknowledgement of its mistress.

The gentleman in the armchair opposite had chosen wine over tea. He sipped it politely, enjoying the warmth that this old relic of a building managed to muster. "I still cannot believe that you named that bird after me," he muttered.

"It's a _compliment_," Helen insisted.

An _amusement_, rather. "How so?"

"It just is. Besides, you are the one who woke her up – stumbling in at this hour of the morning."

Nikola Tesla's eyebrows lifted, his moustache catching on the rim of his wine glass. "A _female_ bird? Helen..."

Helen sighed patiently. "Nikola, I swear she was a boy when I named her. James said it was a reaction to isolation after he and Holmes brought it back from India. Besides, the time to be mad was a couple of hundred years ago." There was a slight pause as Nikola considered that. "I hear you have a cat."

Finally, a smile out of the old vampire. "I might."

Helen took that as a sign that he was finally settling down. "Admit..." she extended her leg and nudged him gently with her stocking-covered foot. "You _like _having your own sanctuary."

"I like the halfway decent lab I built inside of it," he corrected her. "Seriously though, I am drawing a firm line at two Yetis – _very firm_. They are drinking all of my wine and they smell like a pair of sodden ice wolves." He had her laughing now – that was another thing he missed. When he was lodged away in her guest rooms, he could always hear her laugh. It travelled down the halls and into every room. "Speaking of pets, where's your wolf?"

"Henry?" Helen translated. "He's over with your old friend, the vampire with no sense of humour. He's helping commit the ancient scrolls and tablets into an electronic library for your perusal."

"So that's why you called me all the way over here," he realised. "I'm a replacement tech support."

Helen couldn't deny that. There were a couple of odd things around the Sanctuary that needed fixing. She had a neat list and everything. "Actually, I was going to invite you along anyway. I have acquired something that is more in your area of expertise..."

"Why Helen," Nikola set his wine glass down. "That sounds like a leading statement."

* * *

Not _leading _in the way Nikola Tesla might have liked.

Helen had not bothered to switch on the lights so the halls were lit by original iron lanterns filled with spheres of glowing lichen that Nikola had gifted her shortly after his acquisition of James's London Sanctuary. He had the stuff lying around in his garden but Nikola had adapted it into a system of night-lighting.

"You know, I think you're starting to pick up the beginnings of an English accent..." Helen said, as she walked with Nikola up the marble staircase.

He looked horrifically offended. "I bloody well am not!" he huffed – then cursed at his unfortunate choice of words.

"Declan says the London Sanctuary has never looked better – something about a new security system?"

"Don't dig, Helen. It's in a trial phase only. When I'm happy with it, I promise I'll share."

"I'm sure it'll cost me more than a bottle of wine," she replied, stopping at the top of the stairs. She turned and led him into the grand library. She kept looking intently at his new moustache but he hadn't mentioned it yet. Maybe he was going through a bit of a century-life crisis?

"You're being unusually secretive," he pointed out, as she closed _and _locked the library door. "What have you got to hide from the contents of your house?"

"I don't want us to be disturbed," Helen shrugged, and then had to dodged a swift leer from the ever-hopeful vampire. "Nikola – " Helen placed a hand on his chest and pushed him gently out of the way. "I called you here tonight because I need an expert – an expert in treasure."

Nikola's eyes went from crystal blue to pitch, vampire-black. The orbs glistened with a sudden, specific interest that his careful tone couldn't hide. "Just because I'm a vampire doesn't mean I'm going to go weak kneed at the first sign of – _oh..._"

Helen slid a large, flat leather case out of the book shelf, laid it on the table and opened a flap. Revealed beneath was a small fragment of stone with a strange, rare vampire script.

"What – is – that?" he whispered.

Helen bit her lip. "Points for trying but I know you already have one just like this. It fits – here – I think?" she traced her fingertip down one side of the stone.

"You just can't get trustworthy staff these days," he complained.

"Well... You can't tell me you're surprised. Kavanaugh may work for you but Ashley's my child."

Nikola looked puzzled, tilting his head like that great big bird downstairs. She blinked at him.

"Really – Nikola you're meant to be the genius."

"But I thought that Henry and -"

"Them?" Helen swatted him on the shoulder. "No. Apparently she likes a man with a badge."

"I – told him all sorts of things."

"I know..."

"Dammit!"

Helen found his dismay highly amusing. She even shifted closer, standing shoulder to shoulder with her old friend. That seemed to calm him a little. "Do you really mind me knowing all your secrets, Dr Tesla?" she teased.

Nikola's response was a dismayed sigh. "Well, I'd rather you not possess the entirety of my collection and I'm going to be much more careful about what I tell that detective."

"That's why I thought I'd share one of mine. This stone did not come from the same excavation site as yours. While your team has been sifting through the extensive caves at the Sanctuary of the Moon, I was following up an unrelated abnormal in the _Karlamilyi National Park_."

"Where on Earth is that?"

"Western Australia – there's a newly discovered species of giant sand ray skirting around the salt lakes up there. Terrified a few freelance photographers. Needless to say, I was surprised when I came across the ruins of a pyramid."

"Wrong continent for pyramids..." Nikola pointed out.

"That's what I thought but it's authentic – early vampire and quite the hatchet job. I think they were trapped in the desert – dying."

"And that's where you found this?"

"They went to great lengths to make sure it wasn't eaten by the sands. It must have been important."

"It's knowledge," Nikola whispered reverently, leaning over the tablet fragment. "There was nothing more valuable to them. I suppose you brought me all this way to ask the obvious question..."

"Well...?"

"No," he shook his head. "I don't know what it says at least, not yet."

* * *

Nikola leaned against the door of his old room. He wasn't sure why she kept it for him – always the same little cubicle tucked away in a forgotten part of her house with a view out a slit of crumbling stone window. His desk was untouched with a lamp, scattering of books neatly piled and a few trinkets in the drawers. Silk sheets on the bed were freshly washed – he could smell the faint perfume coming off them. He couldn't place why but the idea that she did this all herself for him gave him the strangest feeling of safety that he didn't get anywhere else, not even in his newly beloved London Sanctuary.

He slipped off his shoes, folded his jacket and placed it over the arm of a chair and then laid down on the bed. From here he could see a few stars through the window – only the ones that were bright enough to make it through the glow of Old City. The stars were the only true link that he had with his ancient relatives. They might have moved around a little bit since the time of the vampires but most of them were all still there, gazing down at the world. Every star, world and moon had a sound beating out from it. Nikola used to listen with his first radio devices, curiously recording Earth's nearest friends. Ever since then he'd always imagined a song streaming down from the evening sky – a chaotic rhythm of vast bodies spinning and dying.

A sudden, distinct feeling that he was being watched came over him. Nikola turned his head sharply and found Helen at the door, peering in.

"Sorry – I knocked but..."

He sat up slowly and beckoned her in. "It's fine. I was just thinking."

Always thinking, she thought. "I was going to say – you really don't have to keep the Yetis if you don't want to."

He shook his head. "You shouldn't take my complaining to heart."

She smiled and closed the door quietly. Helen perched on the bed beside him, observing her very dear friend. She pointed to his moustache questioningly.

"Oh this?" he grinned, only serving to make it bigger. "What can I say – it's cold in London."

"It reminds me of our Oxford days. I half expect you to waltz in wearing one of your silk cravats surrounded by a flurry of pigeons."

Maybe he would... "What if I can't translate this tablet of yours?" Nikola asked. "I'm guessing you already know that I've had mine for a while – to no success."

"I'm not an idiot, Mr Tesla... You've been distracted by that government project you think no one knows about. I'd wager if you turn your attention to this instead, you could solve it. Languages are your talent, Nikola. Come on..."

"I'm still thinking..."

"What if I put it another way... You could help me or I might just let a few important politicians know that you're hacking into the government databases while engaging in their pet projects."

"Blackmail," he actually looked aroused by her threat. His words were silken in reply. "Now I'm listening, my dear."


	2. London

**2**

**LONDON**

Rain – how original.

Helen watched it bleed down the window of their car as they meandered through London's afternoon traffic. Several hundred years had passed but Helen could still smell the stench of horse shit and decay seeping out of the cobblestones. It was a filth that no amount of rain could shift. London was a hovel of humanity – a nest of rich and poor feasting off each other before a another wall of flame swept through. It was strange... As they drove by some of the old buildings, the charcoal stains at their edges transformed into hell fire. 1666 had nothing on the winter of 1940.

"Excited to be back?" Nikola nudged her gently, as they rounded the final corner. A few ancient Plane trees remained, bowing over the street and shorn oddly to make way for powerlines. They gave a bit of protection to the rustic cafes indulging in the old-world charm of this part of town. There was a certain beauty to the ailing buildings. She'd never understood the fascination humans had for watching old things fall apart. Did it give them some sense of relief that mortality was not theirs alone?

The London Sanctuary didn't look like much from the road.

Originally four stories, the centuries had haphazardly added another two with a steeply graded roof and Juliet balconies peaking under lead-light windows. A climbing rose bravely twisted up one side, smearing flares of red against the stone as it clawed its way toward the sun, shunning the sodden ground made mostly of shattered tiles.

An unassuming stone wall kept pedestrians at bay. Invisible to them was a multifaceted security system of Tesla's design that nobody had been able to get through. He was immensely proud and yet said absolutely nothing about its particulars as he and Helen approached save for the insufferable smirk under his moustache. Helen was jealous – she'd admit that much.

Their car turned into the driveway, slinking through the automatic iron gate. His driveway dived immediately underground into an immense vault where they parked alongside the loading dock. It was a flourish of Abnormals and relics which were in the process of being unloaded by a formidable task force of employees.

"Yetis – damn Yetis I can smell them from here..." Nikola muttered, as he closed the door and stretched his frame – all long limbs and stiff joints.

The London Sanctuary – the first _true_ Sanctuary was a far cry from its humble roots.

"I know you've always been all about the Abnormals, Helen," Nikola continued, "but James's interests leaned decidedly toward the artefacts they left behind. Everything down here is dedicated to the safe transport of delicate, rare items."

"Is that why you accepted his offer?" Helen eyed him accusingly. "So that you'd become the centre for highly valuable relics? And here I was thinking you just wanted to get your paws on a few select pieces... This – this is _out of control._"

"Actually I was hoping to trade a few Yetis for a nice, peaceful library of relics, if that's okay with you."

"I'm considering it," she grinned. As Nikola continued the tour he seemed genuinely surprised by the depth of James's obsession and the infrastructure that went into it. Poor Nikola had spent a fortune already simply keeping operations in place – selling bits and pieces to museums. "This place is huge – I had no idea," Helen admitted, as they roamed through the underground labyrinth. Finally they reached ground level. She shook her head. "Really Nikola, your house looks like a scene out of Tomb Raider."

She was right, of course. There were huge wooden crates piled as high as the marble staircase, all branded with the shipping stamps from their recent voyages. "I had a really bad night on Ebay..." he joked. "In all seriousness, most of this is the fallout from a plea James made before he died. He sent a request for any and all historical references to ancient Abnormals. I think he was trying to map their ancestry. He'd have been rightly fuming if he'd learned the truth about vampires."

Helen had to laugh at that. "Probably..." she chuckled.

Every single employee that walked past Nikola nodded politely and addressed him as, 'Sir'.

"What?" Nikola asked, when she stared accusingly at him.

"Sir?" she mocked, tilting her head so that her dark brown hair fell over her shoulder.

He shrugged innocently. "They were used to it with James. I'm just carrying on the tradition. I thought that was how things were meant to work in this part of the world or do I have it wrong?"

"Your ego is going to explode here."

"I think it's growing rather thriving, thank you very much. Shall we?" he opened his arm to gesture at the stairs. "The item you're after is upstairs."

"I don't trust you..."

Nikola just grinned. "Yes, you do. You followed me half way around the world."

* * *

"No tea? How is that possible?" Helen moaned. She was in Nikola's office, pacing around by the fire as his assistant came in carrying a tray of _coffee_. "This is sodding _England _and there's no bloody tea!" She accepted the cup of coffee, albeit with a dark look. Her expression shifted to intrigue when Nikola brought over a small container carrying his stone fragment.

"See, exactly like yours and just as incomplete. It's nothing more than a fragment." Tesla watched her stalk back and forth. "Helen – _sit_. You drive me crazy as it is without your restless pacing."

Eventually she sat, leaning forward to the table with the stone on it.

"There's even less writing on yours..." she noted. He hadn't been lying about that. Was it her imagination or did he lie to her less these days? Probably not a good sign, it usually meant that he was up to something she hadn't discovered yet.

"Why do you think I've been unable to translate it? I might be talented with languages but even I need more than a few fragmented words to work from."

"Is there any connection between your site and mine?"

"The sites themselves? No... I doubt it," Nikola sank down onto the couch next to her with his electronic tablet. He brought up the dig in South America where he'd uncovered the stone fragment submerged in a shallow river. As you know, Ashley, Declan and Kavanaugh were following a suspected mining tunnel when they came across the artefact. If I was to guess I'd say it was accidentally lost there – dropped or swept there in a flood. There was absolutely nothing around it to place it in context."

"Mining?" Helen couldn't help laughing aloud. "Come on Nikola, everyone knows you're looking for the lost cities of gold – little good it's going to do you. Even I know those are a complete fabrication. Don't be as stupid as the old Spaniards."

He was glaring at her. "There was gold in the river!"

"There's gold _all_ _through_ those bloody mountains – that doesn't mean you're going to find golden cities buried in the jungle. Hire a decent geologist before you burn all your money down there."

Nikola was sulking as he brought up the location of Helen's find. "You said you were roughly here?"

Helen adjusted the map on the tablet slightly. "Yes, this is where we found the sand rays," she pointed to some salt lakes. "It was just off to the side of this one."

"I can't zoom in close enough to make out any ruins. I guess Google didn't bother scanning the desert in great detail. Give me a moment, I might be able to bring it up on a weather satellite."

That was code for, 'let me hack into the military satellites'..What he brought up was a frightening amount of detail – so clear that she could actually see the gentle rises around the crudely build pyramids. "Hell I don't know how you found those Helen..."

"I don't think anyone's found them for thousands of years," she added. "The contents of the tomb was entirely untouched."

"And to whom did it belong?"

"My ancient Egyptian is a tad rusty..."

Nikola was trying really hard not to roll his eyes at her in frustration. He bloody well hoped that she took pictures!

"Whoa wait a minute..." There was something odd at the edge of the map – a weird, geometric edge that defied natural structure. Nikola frowned at it and tugged the image across, waiting a few agonising seconds for the next fragment to load. This time, it was Helen who swore.

"Is that – what I think it looks like?" She breathed.

Nikola just nodded slowly. "Damn."

* * *

An unassuming cafe across the road from the Sanctuary housed Helen's new tail. She'd picked up her follower several weeks ago transiting through customs. It was a women who was presently ignoring the latte she ordered hours ago in favour of an unflinching surveillance of the battered building. From what she could work out, this was the most probable location of the London Sanctuary. Though officially unconfirmed, she was pretty sure that those reports were accurate now that Helen Magnus was inside. She couldn't help her lip curling into a smile. She'd just won a bet with a colleague who was convinced it was a black market warehouse. Perhaps it was a bit of both. You could never trust a vampire after all – or so she'd heard.

The mysterious woman startled when a man dragged a chair clear across the floor to her table with a disruptive screech and then sat in it, throwing his newspaper onto the table.

The woman, hiding behind a heavy set of shades which looked decidedly out of place on the grey afternoon, stared at him. "Excuse me – are you lost?"

The man discreetly opened his jacket, flashing a police badge before waving over a waitress and ordering a coffee for himself.

"That's cute," the woman replied. "Though you appear to be a long way outside your jurisdiction."

"If you know that much then I've definitely got the right person," Detective Joe Kavanaugh replied. He ran his hands through his rain-soaked hair, slicking it back. "I wasn't quite sure if you were following my good friends or whether the coffee was really that bad."

"Am I supposed to know you?" The woman frowned. She was clever – never saying anything to implicate herself and at the same time, quietly digging for information. This is what she thrived on. Hell, she had no chance breaking into the Sanctuary so speaking to this stranger might be the next best thing. A very slight smile appeared on her lips. Hell he was cute too. She wondered if he talked in his sleep...


End file.
